Payback
by C. L. Furlong
Summary: Dark Kat and Dr. Viper finally go on one mano-a-mano


TITLE: PAYBACK  
  
AUTHOR: C. L. FURLONG  
  
DATE: May 06, 2001  
  
FINISHED: May 06, 2001  
  
LAST REVISION: May 07, 2001  
  
E-MAIL: chance_lizard_furlong@aeiou.pt or sktom@swatkats.i-p.com  
  
RATING: R  
  
SUMMARY: Dark Kat and Dr. Viper finally go on a mano-a-mano...  
  
DISCLAIMER: SWAT Kats and anything related to the series are property of Hanna-Barbera.   
No infringement is intended and no profit is gained with this fiction.  
  
COMMENTS: This fiction was born out of a "challenge" I presented to KS Claw. During our   
e-mail chats it became evident she didn't quite appreciated Dark Kat and that a showdown   
between him and Dr. Viper was inevitable. I also wanted to do something like that.   
Something like the ultimate fight between those two villains. So I "challenged" her to   
write something about it. And here's my contribution to that "challenge". The only   
conditions were: it must be a short story (nothing more than five pages) and that no   
villain would win over the other in the end. If you feel like wanting to engage in this   
little "challenge", feel free to contribute! Well, here it is. Hope it's enjoyable! This   
fiction is, thus, unrelated to my regular "Final Resistance" series. Please, do let me   
know about your comments on this fiction in order for me to do something better next   
time, okay? Cheers to all of you, SK fans!  
  
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"Calm down, Viper! You'll get what's coming to you!" - Dark Kat in "Katastrophe"  
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"Don't meddle with me, Dark Kat!" - Dr. Viper in "Katastrophe"  
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PAYBACK  
  
"The coassst is clear! They're not paying attention to me! Exssselent! I'm outta..."   
- Dr. Viper thought as he peered outside the abandoned tuna factory on Megakat Island,   
looking from one side to the other.  
  
Then he felt something grabbing his neck from behind and dragging him back inside.   
A grave toned voice echoed in his ears.  
  
"Going somewhere, Dr. Viper?" - Feral asked as he spun the reptilian scientist to   
face him.  
  
"I'm not letting you take me in, Feral!" - Viper thought as he grabbed the brown   
kat's massive forearms with his paws.  
  
"*Fool*! Outta my way!"  
  
Viper pushed Feral's arms aside and placed one foot on his gut, boosting himself   
from the huge kat.  
  
Feral threw him a punch with his right fist but Viper lowered his torso and spun   
around in order to wipe Feral out with his tail. The brown kat managed to draw back his   
torso and escape Viper's blow. In a single fluid motion, Feral punched the reptilian kat   
with his left fist, sending Viper staggering across the room.  
  
Viper suddenly felt the floor escape from underneath his feet. He heard the Deputy   
Mayor saying something but did not registered it. The next thing he felt was the wooden   
floor rushing to hit his back. Then he understood what had happened. He had fallen inside   
Dark Kat's mega-force field bubble.  
  
"Trapped... The proverbial "trapped like a rat" wouldn't fit any better on sssuch   
an occasion!" - Viper thought.  
  
He looked around. There they were, the Metallikats. And behind him was the massive   
bulk of the one he betrayed. The one who betrayed him.  
  
"How do I get myssself in these messsssses?"  
  
"Never thought I'd see *these* kats all caged together!" - T-Bone said.  
  
"Yeah! It was almost worth losing the TurboKat to see this!" - Razor added.  
  
"Almossst worth losing... Dark Kat, you fool! I told you that was too easy!   
But no! It was easy because *your* brilliant mind devised the plan... Let'sss sssee if   
your *brilliant* mind can get usss out of this sssituation!" - Viper thought, giving   
Dark Kat a disdainful look and a disgusted up curved upper lip.  
  
Feral sighed and stepped forward to the force field and placed his paws on his hips.  
  
"You four are under arrest..." - he said but Dark Kat's rumbling voice interrupted him.  
  
"If *I* lose, *everyone* loses!" - he stated, showing a small control box with a   
timer and an 'Abort' button on it and started laughing at the terrorized faces of the kats   
around him.  
  
"*Crud*! The whole place is wired to blow!" - Razor said, throwing his paws to   
Callie and setting her across his shoulder.  
  
"MOVE!" - Feral bellowed.  
  
Viper saw T-Bone carrying Manx over his shoulder and Feral running away while   
Razor guided them all out of there. Then he spun around to face the purple kat.  
  
"Dark Kat, you psssycho maniac..." - was all Viper could say before everything   
around him turned white.  
  
He flattened against the floor and covered his ears when the deafening sound of   
the explosion made its roar heard. A tremendous force picked him up and smashed him   
against the wall of the force field. He opened his eyes and saw a chunk of wood rushing   
towards him, passing by the bubble and smashing against his face. Everything the reptilian   
scientist saw next was total darkness.  
  
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His face ached when he woke up. He didn't want to open his eyes.  
  
"Am I dead?" - he thought - "Am I in hell?"  
  
He obliged himself to open his eyes despite the pain. He was amazed to see the   
morning sun hovering in the green sky above him.  
  
"What'sss thisss?" - he tentatively asked - "Am I dead?"  
  
"Far from it!" - a deep voice rumbled from somewhere to his right.   
  
He sat upright like a bolt and felt the pain spreading to his entire body. What   
he saw gave him chills.  
  
Dark Kat.  
  
The purple kat faced him, his gray robe unbuttoned. His face was contorted in a   
grimace of evil and hatred. He suddenly pulled a thin metal rod out of the side of his gut,   
black blood spurting from it but the wound rapidly healed, forming a nasty looking scar.   
He looked for a moment to the rod, which was dripping with the ink-black fluid, and threw   
it to the sand in front of Viper, where it buried a third of its length.  
  
Viper looked at the black blood dyeing the sand around the rod. That was a clear   
sign of what was about to come. He swiftly inspected his body. Nothing but a few scratches.   
Maybe a few bruises but nothing serious. He stood to his feet.  
  
"Jussst you and me, Dark Kat!" - Viper defied, acquiring a fighting stand.  
  
Dark Kat seemed unimpressed. He simply took off his cloak and tossed it away. The   
cape landed heavily in the sand and the shield that covered his left shoulder glistened at   
the sun. He then finished buttoning his robe and assumed a fighting stand too.  
  
A sudden wind started blowing and raised dust clouds around them. Both Viper's lab   
coat and Dark Kat's robe vibrated intensely. They stared at each other, not moving a muscle   
but having them all tensed. An erratic cloud covered the sun, slowly immersing Viper in its   
shadow and then Dark Kat. Their pupil-less eyes never ceased staring at each other, analyzing.   
Then the sun cast its rays over Viper again and a few seconds later on Dark Kat.  
  
Then the attack begun.  
  
Viper leapt towards Dark Kat, landing on his chest and causing the purple kat to   
fall against the sand.  
  
Dark Kat was surprised. Viper had jumped at least eight meters from where he stood.   
He had underestimated his opponent.  
  
Viper snaked his tail around the purple kat's neck and tightened the grip around it.   
Then he dragged Dark Kat's bulk to the sea.  
  
Dark Kat still sank his dark claws in Viper's tail and dragged them across the   
muscles, ripping big gashes from where green blood spurted over his chest and mouth.  
  
Viper roared in pain but never loosened the grip. Instead, he even tightened it.   
With a last effort, he threw Dark Kat to the water, keeping his head underwater.  
  
Dark Kat fought to relieve himself from Viper's lethal grip but his lungs were   
screaming for air. He stopped struggling a few seconds later.  
  
Viper felt the huge bulk stopping its struggle. A smile appeared in his lips.  
  
"That was easy... I never thought defeating Dark Kat would be ssso sssimple..."   
- he said.  
  
He let Dark Kat go and his body sank limply in the seawater. He headed for shore.  
  
He listened to the surf rolling softly on the beach. Then he heard another sound   
behind him. It was as if something had just exploded behind him. He looked back and saw   
a huge purple fist coming right towards him.  
  
The knock was brutal. Viper was sent flying back to the shore, where he landed   
in the surf zone with a wet splash. A thread of green blood started trickling down his   
snout from his nose.  
  
He saw Dark Kat coming to him, his bulk creating a wave of its own as he crossed   
the seawater.  
  
"You fool! Did you really thought it would be *that* easy to finish me off?"   
- Dark Kat bellowed as he finally burst out of the water.  
  
The purple kat grabbed Viper by the collar of is battered lab coat and stroke   
a blow to the scientist's gut that made him spurt blood from his mouth.  
  
Viper opened his eyes wide when he felt the punch. Then he felt himself flying   
through the open air until the sand of the beach stopped him. He looked to Dark Kat a   
few meters away and coming towards him with decisive stomps. He stood on all fours and   
grabbed his gut, opening his mouth and trying to breathe but it was hard.  
  
"Dark Kat mussst've hit me in my midriff..." - he thought - "Gotta pull   
myssself together!"  
  
But it was too late. Dark Kat was already by him, arching back his right fist   
and landing it hard on Viper's face.  
  
Viper was sent back against the sand, opening a furrow in the loose sediment   
and stopping a few meters away from the huge kat. He looked to him, fear filling his   
eyes and brain.  
  
"You surprised me the first time, you green slime ball. But I learn from my   
mistakes." - Dark kat said as he headed for Viper again, stomping the sand as he went.  
  
"He's coming... He's coming to kill me... I can't let that happen! I can't! Even   
if I have to do the thing I most hate... And, apparently, he gives me no choissssssss..."  
  
He looked to Dark Kat, sibilating. The huge being was still coming towards him.  
  
Fear. That was the main feeling dominating the green kat. But, in a corner of   
his mind, another primal feeling was beginning to brew.  
  
Rage.  
  
He hated that kat. He betrayed him. He tried to kill him. Like he was trying to   
do now!  
  
Rage. Growing higher and stronger.  
  
His eyes glowed bright golden despite the sunny morning. His upper and lower lips   
curved up and down, respectively, revealing his powerful fangs. Saliva started oozing down   
between his teeth and trickling down his lower jaw. He stood on all fours, tail slashing   
the air crazily behind him. He fully unsheathed his claws and roared a deafening sound.  
  
He let his primal instincts overthrow his rational mind.  
  
He lunged towards the purple kat, jaws opened up wide, thick gobs of saliva flying   
off the corners of his mouth. He sank his teeth in Dark Kat's left arm, ripping a big piece   
of muscle.  
  
Dark Kat roared in pain. He couldn't believe Viper did what he just did. He looked   
like a wild beast.  
  
Dark claws glistened briefly at the sunlight before a shiny trail carved the air,   
being replaced by a burst of black blood that flew across the air before splashing against   
the sand. Dark Kat saw the same motion pattern again, this time coming from his left.  
  
The purple kat looked to Viper's paws. His black blood was oozing down his   
attacker's claws and dripping to the sand. Dark Kat looked to his chest. It had two   
crossed gashes. The blood from his half eaten left arm soaked the ground.  
  
The vision of his blood made him furious. His orange eyes lit up with an intensity   
that he only rarely showed. He flexed his muscles, causing his blood to spray from his   
wounds. Then, as if possessed, he let out a scream as he grabbed Viper's head with his   
right fist and forced the green kat back to the sand, smashing Viper's head against the   
soft sediment.  
  
"NO ONE HAS EVER FACED ME AND LIVED TO TELL THE STORY!" - he bellowed, possessed.  
  
Dark Kat, still grabbing Viper's head, lifted him up and tossed him to the sea.  
  
Viper knocked flat with his back against the wet compacted sand, spurting some   
green blood and swiftly stood on all fours, again.  
  
Dark Kat ran to the fallen scientist. He was preparing to kick him in his abdomen.  
  
Viper was on all fours, tail swishing behind and over him.  
  
Both strikes were simultaneous.  
  
Viper was sent flying over the seawater, vomiting a large quantity of green blood   
as he went, and plunged into the ocean, never to be seen again.  
  
Dark Kat stood upright in the surf zone, watching Viper plunge in the dark waters   
of the ocean and not reappearing at the surface again.  
  
He walked towards his cloak and swung it on, adjusting the hood to his head. He   
went to the tidal flat in the middle of the surf zone again.  
  
He suddenly knelt on the wet sand and spurted a large volume of black blood   
from his mouth. He stood on all fours, groping the three left ribs Viper's tail had   
broken with his last blow.  
  
He laid on his right side down in the wet sand, turning to lye on his back,   
panting. A smile appeared in his almost featureless purple face.  
  
"At least he won't be alright for some time too..."  
  
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Night in Megakat Docks. No one was there unless the night guard. Suddenly,   
some gurgling sounds came to his ears. Pointing his flashlight to the ink-black waters   
of the Docks he saw the water bubbling in a specific spot as if it was boiling there.  
  
"What the..." - he said, confusion filling his voice.  
  
The bubbling spot came closer to the dock, always illuminated by the beam of light.  
  
Abruptly, a green and white form jumped out of the water and swished its dark   
claws across the throat of the night watcher, red blood splattering over the water but   
none landing on the dock.  
  
A loud splash was heard when the lifeless body of the kat plunged in the water.  
  
Viper stood for a few minutes under the moonlight, staring as the soft current   
dragged the corps away. He looked to the full moon, contemplating.  
  
"I guesss I showed him a thing or two... I've learnt one thing out of all   
thisss... Never trust Dark Kat!" - he thought to himself.  
  
Limping and bleeding, a very battered and soaked wet Dr. Viper headed for   
a kathole and began his journey, by sewer, back to Megakat Swamp.  
  
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THE END  
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End file.
